The age-old question of why we are here and what is our purpose, pops up from time to time. As I get older, my curiosity to answer that gets stronger. I realize that everything happens for a reason and I could have been anything in this life.

At a young age I could look at an animal and feel so much love for it, that I could cry at the thought of it dying some day. That is not unusual for anyone to feel this, but I come from a lineage of ancestors who have had a past(and present)of much animal brutality and cruelty. We all know the horrific stories.

Most every culture partakes in some act of treating animals with no regard or awareness that they are sentient beings. There is this idea that we are superior and at the top of the food chain. In reality, we are all one, and if we hurt one, we hurt ourselves in the process. No culture is worse in this regard than others. I just have to start from some place, and it is my bloodline.

I assume with most artists, the process of painting is a ritual. For me, there is a certain intension that is made that involves, envisioning, resolving, transformation and healing.

On the sides of my H.A.K. series paintings, I write the Chinese characters for “Love” and “Animals”.  It is a straight forward message and i am now learning the strokes that my ancestors knew.